Michelle Obama: Some seek to give her ‘angry black woman’ image

Washington  First lady Michelle Obama is challenging assertions she has forcefully imposed her will on White House aides and says people have inaccurately tried to portray her as "some kind of angry black woman."

Mrs. Obama tells CBS News she has not read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often draw her into conflict with President Barack Obama's top advisers.

"I never read these books," she told CBS's Gayle King in an interview broadcast Wednesday. "So I've just gotten in the habit of not reading other people's impressions of people."

In the book, Mrs. Obama is said to have occasionally bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life in the White House.

In the interview, Mrs. Obama said, "I love this job. It has been a privilege from day one."

"Now there are challenges," she added. "If there's any anxiety that I feel, it's because I want to make sure that my girls (Malia and Sasha) come out of this on the other end whole."

The Kantor book portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.

The book, titled "The Obamas," describes Mrs. Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House, while labeling her an "unrecognized force" in pursuing the president's goals. Neither the president nor his wife agreed to be interviewed for the book.

"I do care deeply about my husband," Mrs. Obama said in the CBS appearance. "I am one of his biggest allies. I am one of his biggest confidants." But she sought to put aside "this notion that I sit in meetings."

"I guess it's just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here," she said. "That's been an image people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced, that I'm some kind of angry black woman."

"There will always be people who don't like me," Mrs. Obama added, and said she could live with that.

Mrs. Obama said that she's "just trying to be me, and I just hope that over time, that people get to know me."

Asked specifically about an assertion of dissension between herself and Emanuel, now the mayor of Chicago, the first lady said she has "never had a cross word" with him. The same, she said, applies to Gibbs, whom she described as "a good friend, and remains so."

"I'm sure we could go day to day and find things people wished they didn't say to each other," Mrs., Obama said. "And that's why I don't read these books. ... It's a game, in so many ways, that doesn't fit. Who can write about what I feel? What third person can tell me what I feel?"

Mrs. Obama said that when questions or conflicts arise involving her and the White House staff, her East Wing staff resolves the issue with her husband's staff in the West Wing.

"If there's communication that needs to happen, it's between staffs," she said. "I don't have conversations with my husband's staff."

Well, when she say's, "I'm finally proud to be an American", in front of billions of people on the t. v., I think everyone can pretty well tell what she is thinking and feeling. That was not a smart remark to make, no matter what race you are. She should be proud that she was an American before her husband ever even decided to run for the Presidency. If you are living in the United States, whether you were born and raised here, or became a citizen of the U.S., you should already be proud of being an American.

"Mrs. Obama tells CBS News she has not read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often draw her into conflict with President Barack Obama's top advisers."

There are times I'm not proud to be American. Like the 8 years of Bush; that's a start. I guess I'm proud that I am American, but I am not often proud of this country's decisions. Therefore, to make things simpler, I sometimes say I'm not proud of being American. It's an over-generalization, but you get the jest.

rc1977, who would you like to see become the next POTUS? I asked you once before but you gave an incomplete answer. I asked Phoenixman & math the same question. Phoenix said FLOTUS should be the next POTUS & math did not respond.

I ask because I'm genuinely curious. You may have no interest in my choice, but, for the record, I support a second term for President Obama.

Thank you for answering, rc1977. You're right, I didn't like your first answer because I'm interested in what candidate(s) you support.. Now, if I comprehend correctly, I know that your first choice is Romney.

I support Obama's re-election because I believe that he is doing a fine job of protecting our country, that health care is a basic right for all individuals in a civilized society & that he is the candidate with the most genuine concern for the betterment of all Americans. IMHO a second term would mean, at the end of it, a lower national debt than we currently have if we can halt the obstructionism in congress.

Honesty is not an American virtue....I am not proud of America for the way it's government
allowed the theft of lands and culture from it's indigenous people....and if this isn't a widely
held belief why have so many religious denominations tried to have reconciliation
ceremonies with numerous indigenous peoples in this country? many of these denominations
did the US Government's dirty work through divide and conquer pitting traditionalists against
the assimilated christian indigenous people to gain a legitimate avenue of acquiring through
theft and deception...don't believe me.....watch Hell on Wheels on AMC where the chief's
assimilated christian son goes against his father standing between the senator, the railroad
baron, and the chief. In this country one can see real history on tv sometimes.
I grew up in LA and Mississippi from the 1970's to 2008 going back and forth
from Kansas. That is the America Michelle Obama talks of. The tea party closet
dixiecrats who can't get away with the racist language of their past so they create
code language and straw men or women to attack to cover for their own behavior. I see
people like that on here but who has to name names? The archie bunkers need to
acknowledge the whole history of this country....not the ozzie and harriet or mayberry
or ward cleaver history of it....that's what Michelle Obama speaks of as do I. Of course
denial is the plan of operation....no mention of 2000-2008 or any other historical
view except George Wills....so my eloquence on here falls on the historically
tone deaf middle america who doesn't even know whose lands they live on....
Besided falsehope.....what AMERICA do you want.....1950 or 1905?
where legal racism and exploitative capitalism run free......oh the nostalgia....

chubb you just used a common straw issue of conservatives.....blame the victim for not getting
over it while you benefit from either not being taught it or just being an oblivious american.
I've had a job 15 years now, I speak my tribal language, and I get nothing from the US Government due to the Dawes Commission when they allotted and stole Oklahoma
which was a word of my tribal language. I'm not eaten up by anything except your
willful ingorance which is why I confront it. False....you have nothing intelligent to
say so there's no point. Ikhana keyu haklo li.